21st Century Skills InnovatIon LIbrary MakerS as Innovators 3D Modeling Cherry Lake PubLishing ann arbor MiChigan by Theo Zizka
21st Century Skills InnovatIon LIbrary Contents Chapter 1 What Is 3D Modeling Chapter 2 navigating the virtual World Chapter 3 Putting the 3D in Chapter 4 What’s next 3D Modeling Glossary Find Out More Index about the author 4 9 16 24 30 31 32 32
MakerS as innovaTors Chapter 1 What Is 3D Modeling H ave you ever had an idea for something you wanted to make but you weren’t sure how to make it Or what it should look like Have you ever picked up a household object and wondered why it is shaped the way it is Everything man-made 3D models are used to create animation and special effects in movies 4
3d Modeling begins as an idea in someone’s head But how does it take on its final form The answer is modeling Modeling has been around for a very long time Designers artists and other makers use materials such as clay wood and paper to build early versions of their creations They can observe measure and test these models to make sure a final object will work cor rectly They can also make sure it will be the right size shape and color However building physical models can be expensive and time-consuming In recent years makers have relied more and more on 3D modeling computer software to test out their ideas This allows them to create models quickly and easily Computer-generated models are also easy to tweak if changes need to be made There are three main kinds of 3D modeling Polygonal modeling uses three-dimensional shapes such as cubes or spheres to create models You can see its results in your favorite video game or animated movie Curve modeling is based purely on mathemat ics It can be used to create models using very precise measurements This makes it useful for modeling things that will later be built as real-life objects such as buildings cars or electronics 5
